"MMC" wrote in
:

Never saw one myself, but we had a Cheif Boats on the USS Holt (FF
1074) that would get new guys on the night watches going by telling
them that the flying fish were sea bats. Couldn't catch them in a box,
had to use a bucket as they would chew their way out of a box and were
EXTREMELY dangerous.


I have a story to go with that. David, one of the guys who go with us on
Lionheart from time to time and who owns a 36' sailing cat on our dock, was
sitting at the helm about 3AM, 180 miles off the GA coast, about half
asleep with the autopilot running, staring at the radar. I was tending
winches, which is the 2nd two hours of the watches we stand....

A huge flying fish flew straight in under the Amel's hard top from port and
smacked David hard in the belly at full speed, whatever they fly! It
knocked him clean off the helmsman's seat onto the deck. I got a towel
over the damned smelly fish and got him overboard straight away without
getting the fish oil on me as David picked himself up off the deck.

We were, at that point, BOTH awake for the rest of our watch...(c;

The adrenaline charge was strong enough to make my back ache...